When a landowner and the Land Trust enter into a preservation agreement we become partners in the protection of the land.  The landowner continues to own and use the land and the Land Trust becomes the protector of its conservation values.  The details of this working relationship are spelled out in the preservation agreement.

Here are some of the landowner partners the Land Trust works with to protect their land – and what they say about why they have protected their land.

Bill Lock-Paddon, Administrator, Borina Foundation. In 2006 the Borina Foundation agreed to put conservation easements on over 560 acres of prime farmland in the Pajaro Valley. “This is some of the best land anywhere for farming.  This could be a great way to keep the land the way it is now and keep it in productive farming.  Everything that’s there on the property remains, and the right to expand farming operations is retained within certain limits.  But the land would be kept in farming, despite pressure to develop it in the future.”

Diane Porter Cooley, fifth generation Pajaro Valley landowner and one of the founding Board members of the Land Trust.  Diane and Don Cooley donated a conservation easements on 684 acres of grazing land on the Circle P Ranch in 2000. An Interview with Diane Cooley from the Winter 2008 issue of Landmarks Diane recieved the Land Trust's first Conservationist of the Year Award in 2007. Land, Vision & Family from the Fall 2007 issue of Landmarks Register Pajaronian article about Receiving the award “These hills stand like sentinels over this valley.  I want everyone to be able to enjoy them as I and my family have.”

Miles Reiter, third generation berry grower and the President and CEO of Driscoll Berries.  Miles and his brother Garland agreed to put conservation easements on 103 acres they co-own with the Borina Foundation. “These California coastal valleys are very desirable as farmland and they have been lost or are going fast.  The evidence is that the coast is unlikely to say in farming unless private people take deliberate actions.  It’s going to take private action to keep the valley in farming.  It’s not just about financial rewards; it’s also about the future, about how you can use your land.” Read a longer interview with Miles Reiter...

Randy Repass and Sally-Christine Rodgers: Randy Repass and Sally-Christine Rodgers are donating a conservation easement on a 90 acre organic farm they own just outside Watsonville.  Randy explains why: “This is the ‘Ultimate Property Right’!  Our putting a conservation easement on this productive and beautiful 90 acre farm will keep this land in farming and help the valley maintain its character in perpetuity.” Read a longer interview with Randy Repass...

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